Re-Bluing a Milsurp

[H Wally]

Hey all,
Just wondering on what the best course to go on rebluing a milsurp rifle was. I have read about cold bluing, but it seems that most people consider this only suitable for touch-ups, not a whole gun. Is this true? If so, does anyone know what hot bluing might cost on a rifle? If anyone has any experiences or advice on either way I'd be glad to hear it.
Thanks,
H Wally

 

[John Sukey]

A proper blue job will most likely cost more than you paid for the rifle, and will degrade the value.

 

[Joe Turner]

I have a friend here who is a gunsmith and does excellent blue jobs including a nice job of reproducing the blue on SMLEs. He doesn't sharge me anything if I clean all the parts properly, he just doesn't like to be rushed. Normally around here ( central Calif. ) a good blue job starts at $100.00 and goes up signficantly depending on how much polishing and such has to be done. For your old rifle the best thing is to just clean it and leave it alone. Soem folks jusy can not abide having worn areas on their rifles and pistols but these are to be expected on military rifles that have seen years of service and storage and sometimes indifferent care. I am sure othgers will chime in here. Joe

 

[Claven2]

If you HAVE to blue due to a restoration or whatever, you DO NOT want to polish the finish before blueing or it will not look authentic.

If it's a com-bloc weapon, just degrease it and have your gunsmith reblue the whole barelled receiver as one piece (with all small parts removed and dunked separately. this will closely simulate Soviet/East block refurb blueing.

If it's a western nation milsurp, best bet is to remove all finish with muratic acid and then rinse with clean water and lightly oil the rifle. Bring to your gunsmith and tell him to degrease and dunk the rifle - no polishing please. This will closely copy western nation refub blueing.

On many arms the correct finish is parkerizing. This is a whole other thing.

Unless the wear is REALLY bad with pitting, etc. that you are cleaning up or you had to torch the weapon to fix silver soldering or something, I would NOT recommend refinishing it at all as value will certainly be decreased.

If there is not polishing or anything - just a degrease and swim in the tank - the cost shouldn;t be more than $50-75 most places. The bulk of the cost is in the metal prep work (ie, polishing, smoothing, buffing etc.) which you don't want done to a milsurp anyhow. Nothing screams FAKE! like a milsurp with all the machining and forging marks buffed off.

 

[prosper]

If it has any collector value, then leave the original finish. If not, a 'quick dunk' provided that you've done all the prep work ahead of time starts around $100 (as mentioned).

If you haven't prepped the surfaces yourself, then the costs can get quite exhorbitant depending on the desired finish. Sanding, filling and polishing an entire gun, and polishing/jewling a bolt is VERY time consuming. It's probably something most are capabale of doing themselves. A few grades of sandpaper up to 1500 grit or so, steel wool, polishing compound and a dremel would get the job done, but plan on making it a winter project.

 

[H Wally]

The rifle in question is a Lee Enfield No 1 Mk 3, but it has been sporterized and drilled/tapped. I have been told drilling and tapping removes most of it's value, so I didn' think it would do too much more to it to have it reblued. It is missing most of the bluing off the barrel, and signifigant amounts of the rest of the metal is bare as well. You can see more of what I'm working with in the second hotlink on my sig. After reading all this however, I may just pick up another mk 3 instead of doing any heavy refurbishing on this one .
H Wally out.

 

[tiriaq]

Did you mention in another thread that you had stripped black paint off this rifle? During WW2, the British started finishing small arms with a black paint called Suncorite. That may have been the finish.

 

[englishman_ca]

Ya, black painted finish would actualy be authentic. Suncorite is nasty stuff, its a 2 pack paint and gives off toxic fumes. Tough as nails though.

A passable substitue is automotive high temperature exhaust manifold paint. Or even high temp BBQ paint works well. Make sure the rifle metalwork is squeeky clean and spray bomb it. Let it dry then bake to cure it. Guncote is another high temp black paint purposely made for such an application as yours.